Editorial: Lawmakers are sinking Illinois. Example: Sen. Linda Holmes

June 14, 2013

(Tribune illustration)

At a meeting this week, House Speaker Michael Madigan urged Gov. Pat Quinn to help get pension reform out of the Senate.

"Let me say it again: The best pension bill passed so far, and the one that does the most cost savings, is the House bill, and that's in the Senate," Madigan said. "The governor ought to work to get that passed."

Mind if we make a suggestion, governor, on an arm that merits twisting?

Madigan's more aggressive pension bill — the one that would help dig Illinois out of debt more quickly — went down in flames. So-called tea party conservatives who preach fiscal responsibility voted against it, along with Democrats who allowed the pension system to blow out of control in the first place. Senators in both categories should have been on board.

So let's review the roll call. Over the next few days, leading up to the Wednesday special session called by Quinn, we'll write about some of the rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans who ignore their constituents' best interests and stand in the way of saving Illinois.

Today we take a look at state Sen. Linda Holmes.

Holmes is an Aurora Democrat and former small business owner elected in 2006. She delivered a blistering speech against Madigan's more aggressive pension reform bill from the Senate floor. Bellowing into her microphone, she condemned the bill as unconstitutional and unfair. State workers and teachers paid into the pension funds for years, she said. The state shortchanged them, she said as some of her colleagues applauded and cheered.

Here's the thing: The "state" that Holmes decried means her own Democratic Party leaders who decided in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 to pass state budgets that shifted money to schools, public transportation and health care instead of making full pension payments. During two of those years, the pension funds received $2.3 billion less than they should have. And Attorney General Lisa Madigan, now weighing a run for governor, wrote an opinion that the diversion was legal.

The lead paragraph of a 2005 Tribune story began: "Confounded over how to close a gaping budget hole, Democrats who control Illinois government agreed Thursday on a two-year plan to divert hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked to underfunded state pension plans and use it for schools and other programs."

House Republican leader Tom Cross called it a "pension scam."

That was eight years ago. Eight. Years.

In 2010 when Holmes had a few years of experience under her belt, the Democrats left Springfield without a firm budget. Senate President John Cullerton and Madigan sent Quinn a budget blueprint that all but ignored the $3.6 billion owed to the pension systems that year. They just ... skipped full payments or delayed them, for years.

These are the leaders of Holmes' party; these were budgets she and her party passed.

If she wanted to rescue the system, she had seven years to work on pensions. To raise red flags. To call out her own party's leaders.

The unfunded pension liability has nearly doubled since 2002, when the Democrats took charge of the legislature and the governor's mansion.

In Holmes' district, Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, has been working with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to push for local pension relief. Weisner served on Quinn's Pension Modernization Task Force, which recommended many of the changes Holmes voted down.

Taxpayers at a recent Aurora school meeting asked why their property tax bills were skyrocketing. The explanation: State education funding was cut because of budget pressures (read: pensions). This, after Holmes and the Democrats pushed through an income tax hike from 3 percent to 5 percent two years ago, promising it would help the state catch up on its runaway debt.

Holmes is a co-sponsor of Cullerton's pension bill, which the unions support, but which doesn't go far enough to dig Illinois out of its pension hole.

Perhaps if the legislature — and the unions, which spend millions electing candidates who promise not to touch pensions — had acted responsibly back in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, Cullerton's less painful idea to target compounded cost-of-living adjustments to reduce the pension burden would be enough.

It's not. Not today. Not after years — decades — of pension gimmicks. Not when Illinois boasts the worst unfunded pension liability in the nation. Not when lawmakers have proved themselves incapable of fixing the mess.

Sen. Holmes: Your House counterpart, freshman state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Aurora, voted for Madigan's tougher pension bill. She recognized it does more to help stabilize the system. You represent the same constituents.